Miles Apart
by kerali
Summary: Veronica runs in to an old friend that she left miles away, in a box to be forgotten, but realizes he can never be forgotten. Written for the VMHQ's Milestone Follower 1000 Word Fic Challenge, but I don't do well with word limit goals.


_Blah, blah, blah…tap, tap, tap…._ If nothing else in law school, Veronica has learned to string together some articulate and well researched bullshit to finish off the legal briefs in her next class. She finishes her homework early for the night and is glad that she'll be able to give Piz some attention this weekend. _Spend some time with him._ They've been living together a few weeks and it's going better than she expected, other than him starting to realize just how busy she is. She didn't really want to move in with her boyfriend of a few months, but it was the most practical roommate solution to the high cost of living when her old roommate dropped out of school suddenly. You would think that people wouldn't still be dropping out three weeks from finishing their second year, but her roommate just up and left.

Piz gets home in the early evening after his radio spot. "Hey babe, guess what I've got planned for tomorrow." Veronica takes a deep breath to let the tension in her shoulders out so she can smile and say, "Great timing, I finished my work for the weekend early." Inside she's cringing, but she can't tell whether it's because he made plans for them without knowing if she had time, or if it's having to go out when she had been hoping for a restful weekend.

Piz obliviously charges ahead, bouncing around their small living/dining room, accidentally running into chairs. "A guy at work, James, I've talked about him before, he can't go down to the pier this weekend to get some quotes from servicemen during the fleet week festivities so they asked me to go. I thought spending a day at the pier would be a great way to spend a day, and I know how much you enjoyed when you went with Lilly when you were a kid." Piz is next to her now, looking into her eyes with a earnest sweetness that melts her annoyance at Lilly being mentioned so casually by someone who wasn't there, who didn't know her.

"Well, I think your idea of fun and my idea of fun back then might be a little different. I don't think you'd appreciate me picking up a hot fighter pilot while we're there." Veronica gives him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and moves away from the couch to start dinner. She tries to focus on what he's telling her about the story the guy from work is doing, but really she keeps thinking about that weekend with Lilly. She always thought that Lilly's comments about other men when she was supposed to be with Logan were just talk, but she sees things differently now. She knows she just didn't want to face reality and it was easier to have things be bright and shiny than see Lilly sneaking them into bars when they were far too young, and Lilly going off into dark hallways and corners with men far too old for her. She comes back to Piz talking about the families and kids that will be there, taking pictures and the kind of wholesome activities that she wishes her mind went to first.

* * *

Veronica walks hand in hand with Piz until he gets to the servicemen and he starts to focus on work. They're in time for a meet and greet with what she thinks is a mix of enlisted and officers. Veronica walks out on the pier, making her way to the edge through the crowds of families enjoying the day. She enjoys what she sees is a wholesome family day at the pier for most people, trying to separate what will be much different behavior when people start hitting the bars later.

She feels like she can still hear Lilly's voice. _Come on Veronica, it'll be fun and besides, it's your job as my bestie to help me forget about Logan._ She feels sad now thinking of that moment, because really, when did Lilly need help forgetting about Logan. It also must be the reason that she feels like she's seen Logan three times since walking through the crowds. She pauses and brings her camera to her eye, and looks through the viewfinder, ready to take some shots of the ships out on the water. She presses the shutter release, but jumps when someone touches her shoulder. "Shit!" She turns to see Piz reaching for her arm that's holding her camera. "What's going on?"

Piz starts pulling her back towards the street. "I found a couple of guys, oh, and a girl, willing to be interviewed."

Veronica pulls her arm back slightly against his efforts to get her to follow him, "Oookay, and you need me… why?"

"Come on, you'll love this. I told them all about this great girl I have and how much she loves fleet week, they want to meet you."

"Skipping past why you're talking about me to people you're interviewing for work, did you think that considering how much you think I love fleet week, that I might want to be out here, enjoying fleet week?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I can see that." He looks a little sad and veronica isn't sure if he actually wanted her to be with him, or if he wanted to show her off. It's not the first time she's felt like that, but he looks at her with big warm eyes and she reaches up to ruffle his hair before cupping his cheek.

"You go on and do your interviews, I'm going to stay out here and take some pictures, it's been awhile since I've had the chance to use my camera." She reaches up and kisses him briefly before turning back to the pier.

* * *

She's back in position, ready to take her picture once again and finds her shot. The ships that are docked are massive hulks, busy with people going on board for tours, while the one off shore has people busy working around the aircraft. She forgot how much she loves being behind her camera, having a wall to keep her apart from the activity and feel more like an outside observer. She sometimes regrets that she only took the one photography class at Stanford, but as she tries to think of the feedback she got on her photos, she remembers that her GPA didn't enjoy the class as much.

She moves back away from the edge to look at the crowds and families through the distance her camera gives her but feels like she's being watched. She looks around and she's not the only one taking pictures, so surely she's not suspicious and attracting the attention of authorities, so she returns to view the people. She gets the feeling again and turns to take pictures of the people behind her and sees yet another officer that looks like Logan, or maybe it's the same one. What the hell is it with seeing him across the country from where he's probably still surfing his inheritance away, but despite the impossibility, she continues to move in the direction of the look she was feeling.

She's taking a picture of the officers posing with a group of teenage girls, no older than 16, who are having their picture taken by some adults that are obviously there with them. The tallest officer on the end who reminds her of Logan has his arm around the girl next to him. She watches as he glances behind the group and in the direction of where she was standing a few minutes ago and he's laughing with the girls who are innocently flirting. She sees his jaw, his mouth then his eyes and drops her camera to hang from its strap as she stands in shock.

She starts walking towards him, having to make sure that it's really him, because surely she's just crazy. _That_ would make more sense than Logan in the Navy. The group of girls are saying goodbye to the three officers in their sparkling white uniforms when she catches his eye. Making eye contact gives her pause and she is frozen, but now he's making his way to her as it seems like the crowd parts just for them to reach each other.

"Hey Veronica, it's good to see you."

She tilts her head and notices that he's calm, he's an officer in the Navy so that makes sense, but he's not even surprised. She finally finds her voice as her mind catches up with having Logan smirking at leaving her speechless. "So that uniform, costume shop around the corner?"

She smiles up at him to take any harsh tone from her words "God Logan, you're here, in New York."

"Yeah, finally found a patriotic use for my good looks, taking pictures with civilians." He preens and taps his chest and she laughs because he's here, and it's just him.

"You don't seem all that surprised to see me?"

"Yeah, well I actually saw you a little bit ago taking pictures, so you just missed my reaction, but surprised wouldn't cover it, I didn't know you were in New York."

"Were you going to say hi?" She has to say she's caught off guard and more than a little disappointed that he was so unaffected by seeing her that he could just walk away.

"Well, you were taking pictures and I wasn't sure if you were working, and then you were talking to Piz, and I didn't know if you would want to see me. You know, it's just been a long time."

Veronica looks down with some relief and surprisingly, some guilt, but looks up and tells him, "I would always want you to say hi, no matter how long." The shy smile, that she can't ever remember him giving to anyone else warms her heart and also gives her a moment to get herself together. "So do you have a minute, to catch up, or do you have official duties and things to take care of?"

"I have about 30 minutes and then I have to be back on ship for the flyover."

"You're a pilot?" Veronica can't help the immediate visual she has of Logan in a flight suit and Lilly's voice commenting on the San Diego pilots that were in their flight suit. _God look at them Ronica, I'd like to take that off with my teeth...or maybe I'd use my hands, I might need my teeth for what's under._ Thinking of Lilly's crazy comment, but the twinkle in her eye that said she was not serious than Veronica wanted to believe at the time, still causes her to blush. She sees Logan grin and knows that he noticed.

"Yeah, I bet Lilly had a lot to say about pilots at fleet week."

"How did you know?"

"Lilly's the only one that could make you blush like that, I figure it's still the same. Besides, that was always her thing, you know, flirting with the men, showing off, hooking up. I like the guys I work with, but coming off 6 months at sea can make the single guys a little desperate, just her kind of place."

"Yeah, I've been thinking of her today, the one time I went to fleet week was with her, and yeah, she was in her element." She thinks that it's nice to talk about Lilly and for him to just get it, to get who Lilly was and what she was to them.

He's smiling at her and leads her over to the edge of the pier, out of the crowds a bit. "So what are you doing here, as much as it was Lilly's thing, it wasn't yours and I don't see any kids with you." He's looking away from her towards the crowds and while he might be looking around at the family's surrounding them, she realizes that he also doesn't want to see her answer his question.

"No kids, just here while Piz interviews some people for work. He thought I'd like it all." She sees his eyebrows go up like he's rolling his eyes, but she can't be sure since his face is still ironed away.

She admires his courage, and finds she can't ask the same and doesn't want to know about that part of his life. She does find it interesting to ask about his work and his plans. He talks about his most recent deployment and that he's headed to Virginia, but doesn't know where he'll be based for his shore leave. He asks more personal questions, but only about her dad, Wallace and Mac. He mentions Parker and she finds that it bothers her a little that he's still in touch with her, even when he mentions Parker's fiancé.

She forgets about taking pictures, until he again mentions her camera and makes a joke about her past use of her camera, asking if she was trying to catch a wife with a roving eye for uniforms. She's matter of fact about her life in law school, noticing that she doesn't have the same joy in her work that he has obviously found in his, but the pride in his eyes makes it worthwhile. She didn't realize that she cared what he thought anymore, or ever really, but she does. She's thankful that she doesn't have to explain herself or justify her plans and finds it tempting to start talking about how disappointed she is with her classes, and her classmates. How frustrated she is that she'll probably end up working for corrupt corporations just to pay off her loans, defeating her reason for going into law in the first place. She thinks he might get it, rather than treating her like she's whining.

Logan's smiling at her, telling stories about his squadmates when behind him, the two guys he was with earlier start to sneak up on him. They yell behind him " _Hey Mouth, close the deal or move on already"_ he barely flinches, like he's used to it, but shoots them a look.

"Guys, this is an old friend of mine. Veronica, meet Mike and Jason." Jason, the shorter if the two guys looks at her curiously, "Veronica, as in…"

"Nope, so, I guess it's time to head back?" Logan cuts him off quickly with a serious look.

Veronica catches the moment, but realizes that her time with Logan is coming to an end. She touches Logan's arm to get his attention and wants to get lost in the warmth and affection in his gaze, but instead gestures with her camera, "Proof or it didn't happen."

Logan reaches for her camera and hands it to Mike, then reaches in his pocket and brings out his phone and hands it over too. He stands next to her and drapes his arm casually over her shoulder, no different than he did with the girls earlier. She reaches around his waist and puts her hand against his side, pulling herself into his body. She can't help but feel his lean muscles, even through his uniform. Every muscle tenses as she feels his draped arm pull back slightly so his hand is actually pressed against her arm, turning her body so very slightly towards him and closer. She doesn't want to think about what it means that she feels more alive and more intimate just standing with Logan than she has in any relationship with anyone since, well, him. They have their picture taken twice then Jason grabs a passerby to take the camera and phone.

"Can't pass up having my picture taken with a beautiful woman." He winks at Logan who rolls his eyes as Mike and Jason pose next to them, but she doesn't move and stays with her arm tight against Logan. She thanks the lady that took their picture and accepts her camera back as she heard Logan tell the guys that he'll be along in a minute. He turns back to her and she's scared of what he's going to say and holds her breath.

"So I've got to go. If you're going to be around any longer I'll be in the flyover in an hour. So, I guess… it was great to see you again." She exhales when she realizes that he's leaving and while she's relieved to avoid a whole conversation about seeing you again or keeping in touch, she can't help but think how sad she is that it's over.

She reaches up to hug him, pulling his body down to her by reaching around his shoulders, which are much broader than she remembers. She feels him hesitate briefly, but then he's surrounding her body with his and nothing has felt so perfect. "It was great to see you again, and I can't wait to see you fly." She pulls back as he releases her body and she looks into his eyes. He has the same look that he would have before, right before he would kiss her forehead, but he doesn't this time and instead turns away. She watches him for a moment and jumps when she is grabbed from behind.

"Hey babe, ready to go?" Piz is looking at her with a grin and she works to smile back at him while ignoring how foreign his hands feel at her waist.

"Actually, I wanted to stay for the flyover in an hour."

Sure, I guess we can do that."

She smiles at him and he seems surprised at her enthusiasm. "Great, I'm not sure if you saw, but that was actually Logan I was talking to before you came over, he's one of the pilots." She tempers her enthusiasm a bit since she isn't sure how he'll react.

He's speechless for a moment, "Logan, as in punch first, question later, Logan?" He finds his words and pulls his hands away from her waist and to his hips.

Veronica barely avoids visibly rolling her eyes, but can't completely keep her annoyance out of her voice. "Yes, that Logan, he's a pilot, I ran into him in the crowd."

"Huh, you met up with Logan." Piz is looking blankly like it's too much to process.

"I didn't meet up with Logan, I haven't been in touch with him since Hearst. I ran into him."

"So you're in touch with him now?" He looks at her with an angry, hurt expression and she just feels confused. She didn't expect him to be thrilled, but didn't think he'd make it into a thing.

"Not in touch, just ran into. Look, if you really want to talk about this later, fine, but can we just watch the flyover then head home?" She sees that they aren't drawing any special attention yet, but has no intention of letting it get that far.

"Fine, so you aren't going to talk to him again?"

"Not that I know of, we didn't plan on it." Now she's getting kind of mad, but is trying to keep it together.

Now Piz has crossed his arms with his shoulders hunched up and whines, "So why do you want to stay so bad if it's no one that's important, that you'll never talk to again anyway?"

His look is pleading with her, but she's about done. She looks down and crosses her own arms to give herself time to gather her thoughts. "Logan will never be no one, he will always be my oldest friend, even when we're not in touch. So yes, I want to see the kid I've known since I was twelve, fly a fighter jet off a ship." She stared at him as she speaks, and although he looks like he's going to comment for a minute, he stops himself. He trails after Veronica as she approaches the edge where she pulls out her camera, focusing on having this chance to see Logan fly, while feeling miles apart from Piz, even though he's just a step away.


End file.
